US House battle brewing among SC Republicans

FILE - In this Jan. 19, 2012 file photo, former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford leaves The Citadel in Charleston, S.C. Sanford a former two-term governor who was a rising GOP star before he vanished from South Carolina for five days in 2009, is one of 16 candidates on the ballot in the upcoming March 19, 2013, congressional GOP election. As national Republicans look for answers after their November disappointments, a congressional primary along the South Carolina coast has emerged as a free-fo
— AP

FILE - In this Jan. 19, 2012 file photo, former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford leaves The Citadel in Charleston, S.C. Sanford a former two-term governor who was a rising GOP star before he vanished from South Carolina for five days in 2009, is one of 16 candidates on the ballot in the upcoming March 19, 2013, congressional GOP election. As national Republicans look for answers after their November disappointments, a congressional primary along the South Carolina coast has emerged as a free-fo
/ AP

Despite talking about a need to work across ideological and party lines, Teddy Turner has spent time running against his more liberal father. A high school economics teacher, Turner blamed his family's politics on his father's ex-wife, actress Jane Fonda.

On the issues, the candidates emphasize border control and enforcement of existing laws when it comes to immigration, and most questions about gun regulations deal with mental health.

Tompkins says abortion and gay marriage aren't factors in the primary because South Carolina Republicans "stopped having social, cultural fights for the most part."

State Sen. Larry Grooms almost mocks the rhetoric in one television spot. "All the candidates are talking about the same issues we've heard before," he says. "Yes, I'm a pro-life Christian conservative who knows D.C. spends too much."

To distinguish themselves, some Sanford rivals have turned attention to the ex-governor's personal life. John Kuhn, a former state senator, said in a recent debate, "I've never cheated on my wife, and I'm not going to."

Merle Black, a Southern politics expert at Atlanta's Emory University, said the campaign highlights that GOP rebranding talk "comes from Republicans who have been losing. The Republicans have been winning in South Carolina. They're not going to abandon their winning strategy because of outside campaign advice."

Dawson, the former party chairman, said moving left isn't an option even in a general election. "If we do that, then the party is something we're not supposed to be," he said. "If we try to be `the moderate party,' we'd probably disintegrate."

There are voters, particularly in less-Republican Charleston, who say they want a more moderate approach.

"Right now politics with the Republicans and the Democrats not being able to do anything in Washington has got me to where I don't know what to think," said Johnny Lofton, a 56-year-old cab driver and construction worker.

Jeff Sills, a 67-year-old retiree who retired to coastal Mount Pleasant from Florida, said he's a "lifelong Republican" but added that he's "found it difficult in recent years to make a vote for them because some of the positions are so extreme."

Yet Lofton said his choice is the famously uncompromising Sanford, and Sills said Sanford "seems like a pretty good guy" and is "the only name I really know."

Jim Dyke, a South Carolina native and former Republican National Committee spokesman, said it's obvious that the central question of the campaign "is whether forgiveness is divine or can also come from voters."

The national parties say they're on the sidelines for now.

Democrats in Washington take special care to play down the race, though Tompkins and Dyke suggest the opposition is sandbagging.

"They certainly feel like they have a chance if Mark Sanford wins it on our side," Tompkins said.

Dyke added, "I absolutely expect they'll make a play. Can you think of a better validation of the president's policies or the idea that the president's party can win back the House?"